Ben Rubinstein
pro member
The problem with whibal or any other WB system that is increasingly becoming alive to me is that when shooting in mixed lighting, i.e. flash and ambient, or even mixing the two where the flash is the main lighting source but the ambient is within a stop or two, the only way to get accurate WB from a whibal or other card system is if the flash to ambient ratio is exactly the same from shot to shot. You also have to have the whibal at the same plane as the subject. Having the whibal flat on the table doesn't help your vertical subject. having the whibal infront of your subject doesn't help, it is in a different flash/ambient ratio. If your exposures are not all exactly the same then you will be getting a different flash/ambient ratio and hence a different WB.
OK we are only talking about a couple of hundred K but that can make all the difference when we are talking about facial tones. I've been using mine less and less since discovering that the only way that it is truly accurate is if it is held next to the subjects face and the flash/ambient exposure never changes. Perfect for studio, not that good for working at a wedding where the exposures fluctuate, the fill level fluctuates (due to distance of subject when using flash) and you can't get the card next to the subject.
The worst case scenario is using bounce flash. Indoors bounce flash (with fill card or LS or omnibounce) fluctuates the WB often drastically depending on distance to the subject, the closer you are the more the WB moves over to flash from ambient. In cases like that a meter distance can move the WB over 200K. The 'holding the Whibal while shooting' type shot as featured on the Whibal site is useless when mixing flash and ambient which is truth be told where the true value of a system like this is.
I'm not knocking an excellent product, I have two of them, one for backup I think that it is so crucial to digital photography. But I'm using it less and less as 99% of my photography is in mixed lighting plus bounced/diffused flash and correct whibaling is often close to impossible.
Is this a given when using a system like this, do others disagree or am I doing something wrong?
OK we are only talking about a couple of hundred K but that can make all the difference when we are talking about facial tones. I've been using mine less and less since discovering that the only way that it is truly accurate is if it is held next to the subjects face and the flash/ambient exposure never changes. Perfect for studio, not that good for working at a wedding where the exposures fluctuate, the fill level fluctuates (due to distance of subject when using flash) and you can't get the card next to the subject.
The worst case scenario is using bounce flash. Indoors bounce flash (with fill card or LS or omnibounce) fluctuates the WB often drastically depending on distance to the subject, the closer you are the more the WB moves over to flash from ambient. In cases like that a meter distance can move the WB over 200K. The 'holding the Whibal while shooting' type shot as featured on the Whibal site is useless when mixing flash and ambient which is truth be told where the true value of a system like this is.
I'm not knocking an excellent product, I have two of them, one for backup I think that it is so crucial to digital photography. But I'm using it less and less as 99% of my photography is in mixed lighting plus bounced/diffused flash and correct whibaling is often close to impossible.
Is this a given when using a system like this, do others disagree or am I doing something wrong?